The design of the gun traces back to the early 1930s when Fedor
Tokarev gave up his attempts to design a recoil-operated self-loading rifle,
and concentrated on the gas operating principle. Stalin
had a great interest in semi-automatic infantry rifles, and in 1935 a design
competition was held, which was won by the rifle designed by Sergei
Gavrilovich Simonov, and was accepted into service the next year as the AVS36.
However, problems with the AVS quickly manifested, and another competition was
held, to which both Tokarev and Simonov submitted their improved designs. This
time, Tokarev's rifle was chosen. The rifle was accepted for production under
the designation SVT-38, and it was hoped to become the new standard issue rifle
of the Red Army. Ambitious production plans were made: the production was
planned to be increased to two million rifles per year by 1942. Production began
in Tula
at 1939.